Canadian Tax requirements on Non-Resident (foreigner) selling their Canadian peice of raw land? A swiss couple living and working in Switzerland bought a peice of Canadian property 18 years ago. Would like to sell it now. What tax would they pay as non-residents of Canada?
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In general, the withholding due is 25% of the gain (measured in Canadian dollars). They then, after the calendar year of sale, but before April 30 of the following year, need to file a Canadian non-resident tax return to get the refund. It's likely they can claim a "foreign tax credit" on their Swiss taxes, but those forms are in languages I do not know.
As soon as possible, they need to file forms T1261 to request tax numbers. It is allowable for the forms to filed with the sale forms, but it's probably better to get the ID numbers first.
As soon as the sale price is known, but no later than 10 days after the sale, they need to file forms T2062 to report the sale and make arrangements for payment. The seller may need to retain payment until the forms are accepted, so it is wise to get those in as soon as possible.
After the end of the year of sale, but no later than April 30 of the following year, they will need to file Canadian tax returns (T1 and Schedule 3) to determine the amount of refund from the withholding. There will almost certainly be a refund.
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As you've specified a high level of detail is required, I realize I haven't yet explained how the T1 form is to be filled out; as it depends, to some some extent, on their world-wide income, I don't think I can specify it in full detail.